Team Liberty candidate Jon Long (center) and other members cheer after receiving the most spirited and creative efforts award at Friday night's 2010 American Diabetes Association Kiss-A-Pig Campaign.

Seeing that this year’s Kiss-A-Pig theme was based on a popular series of books, appealing primarily to children, it was fitting that the children representing the HOGwart’s School of Glycemic Control ended up in first place. The children raised $75,000 and earned the right to kiss HAMlet the pig at the 2010 ‘Harry PORKer and the Blood Sugar Prince Battle for Control’ campaign gala.The winners were announced Friday evening at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah. This year, the campaign total reached $194,577.Team Liberty County candidate Jon Long, chairman of the Liberty County Hospital Authority, took the honor of being the runner up for the most funds raised, slightly more than $51,000, and took home honors for the most spirited and creative team effort.“I feel like it’s been a success,” Long said after the announcements. “Even though we didn’t raise the most money, if we had to lose to someone I’m glad we lost to the kids.”The HOGwart’s team was managed by Dr. Sheila Woo who said the eight students, who were the team ambassadors, all suffer from type I diabetes.“Some of the children who were here tonight talked about their diabetes, what it means, what they have to do,” she said. “We spent a lot of time using this campaign to help children in the schools understand about diabetes.”According to statistics posted on the American Diabetes Association’s Web site, about one in every 400-600 children and adolescents has type I, insulin dependent, diabetes. Twenty-three million children and adults, 7.8 percent of the population, have either type I or type II, sometimes called adult onset diabetes. In 2006, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death, directly or due to underlying causes, as listed on death certificates within the United States. According to death certificate reports, diabetes contributed to a total of 233,619 deaths in 2005, the latest year for which data on contributing causes of death are available, according to the ADA.Woo said she was astounded to hear how much the kids were able to raise.“It’s a phenomenal number considering we had 60 schools last year and only raised 100K,” she said. “To have 36 schools raise $75, it’s amazing.”“We are so proud of what they’ve done just like we are proud of the kids of Liberty Elementary,” Long added.Liberty Elementary Principal Chris Anderson had presented a check to the Liberty team Friday morning after the students help raise $4,500 for the cause. They capped off the festivities by having Anderson, Assistant Principal Rebecca Mock and a few teachers kiss HAMlet during the morning’s check presentation.“Chris would probably do anything to raise a little money,” Long said. “It was so exciting to see them involved in something like this. “We are proud of the money we raised and we know it’s going to a good cause. Also earning the right to kiss Hamlet in the newcomer’s category was Dr. Richard Toomey of Beaufort Memorial Hospital. It was the second year in a row a team representing Beaufort County won the smaller category.The winning children’s team of Hogwart’s was Team Savannah –Chatham County Public School’s 17th victory in the in the 18 years of the event.Team Liberty County upstaged the Savannah team in 2008 when candidate Danny Creasy broke all boundaries and set a single-team record of $160,000.